Wednesday, 8 July 2015

Southampton's Keeping Troubles

There
can be no doubts thatSouthamptoncompeted far above everyone’s
expectations last season, they were tipped for relegation but were unlucky to
miss out on a Europa League spot by the end of the season. That failure
(although it seems harsh to label it as that) to reach European football is reflected
in the way Saints ended the season, losing four of their last six games and
other than Manchester City and Spurs those games, on paper anyway, certainly
looked winnable.

One
possible cause for this downturn in form is the absence ofFraser Forsterfrom the side for the last eight games
of the season, through injury. In those eight games, Southampton conceded
twelve game, an average of 2.5 per game. In the 30 games in which Fraser Forster
competed Southampton conceded 21 goals, an average of 0.7 goals per game, that
difference is fairly astounding.

Forster
was replaced byKelvin DavisandPaulo Gazzinigafor the eight games he missed. Neither
goalkeeper covered themselves in glory during that period of time, according towhoscored.com,
Davis caused an error that led to a goal against Stoke and in my opinion could
have done better with Chadli’s header against Spurs, whilst Gazziniga was at
fault for one of the goals against Leicester.

If those
errors hadn’t occurred, but everything else had remained the same, Southampton
would have beaten Spurs and drawn with Stoke. That would have given them an
extra three points and would mean they’d have qualified for European football.

It’s
worth noting that for these eight games Southampton had a pretty settled back
four and it wasn’t particularly different from the rest of the season, mainly
consisting of Clyne at right back, two from Yoshida, Fonte and Alderweireld at
centre back and Bertrand at left back. So changes in defence aren’t

to blame
for the extra goals shipped.

Nor is
the opposition, over those eight games Southampton faced Everton (A),Hull (H),
Stoke (A), Spurs (H), Sunderland (A), Leicester (A), Villa (H) and City (A).
Admittedly there’s a lot of away games in there but in the reverse
fixtures they conceded just five goals and three of those were against City.

It’s
impossible to say whether Southampton would have done better with Forster in
their side but it would make sense, knowing you have a solid goalkeeper can
inspire the rest of the side to play with confidence and it can demoralise
opposition when he makes a string of top saves. Add to that the fact defenders
will build up a relationship and understanding with their goalkeeper which is
important for keeping a clean sheet.

This is
not to disparage the two deputies, Davis has been a loyal servant to
Southampton and was club captain last season and Gazziniga is just 23, Forster
is an excellent goalkeeper and it's understandable for any replacement to be at
a lower level. That said, if I was Ronald Koeman I’d certainly be considering
bringing in another keeper for back up this season.

Southampton
ended up with the second meanest defence in the league, only Chelsea conceded
fewer goals than them (32 compared to 33), I think it’s fair to say with
Forster in goal Saints might have ended with up the best defence in the league
and maybe even European football.